AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You can’t do this,” Cal said as he took the newly rinsed plate from Astrid, dried it, and added it to the stack on the kitchen counter. It had taken a few minutes, but once the other coaches started trading pond hockey war stories and exchanging dentist recommendations, he knew he had his chance, and he’d joined Astrid in front of the kitchen sink.
“Doing the dishes?” Astrid asked, picking up a plate and rubbing it with the scrubber before putting it down in the sink half-filled with sudsy water. “I’ve been doing that for years and promise I can.”
The woman had jokes. Here he was just trying to help and she was putting on a stand-up routine.
“Or,” she said, letting out a comically exaggerated gasp as she picked up the plate she’d just washed and started scrubbing it again, “are you talking about Tig?” She set the plate down in the sink and shot him a very not-friendly smile. “Look, Mr. Knight in Shining Armor, I am not a damsel in distress.” She picked up the same plate and started cleaning it again. “I don’t need you to look out for me. I have everything under control.”
“Really?” he scoffed. “Then why have you washed the same plate three times now?”
Her eyes went wide, and she looked down at the plate in her hand and grimaced. “It’s extra dirty,” she said as she pivoted so they were facing each other in front of the sink. Then she stared him right in the eyes and scrubbed the sparkling clean plate a fourth time. She didn’t even glance away as she held it under the water and rinsed off the bubbles before handing it to him with a smirk. “There. All better now.”
His fingers brushed hers as he took the plate, sending a jolt of attraction skittering along his skin like electrified ants—a reaction that wasn’t limited just to him. Astrid’s eyes widened, and she inhaled a quick breath before turning back toward the sink so they stood shoulder to shoulder again.
He was so close to her that he could smell the lavender of her shampoo and see the dusting of barely there freckles across her shoulders, the ones he’d kissed last night as he slid her bra strap down. That was not what he needed to be thinking about right now. Not with her.
He almost had his shit back together when Astrid took a step to the side and her hip brushed against him. It was only for a second. It wasn’t a deliberate act. However, that made a fuck-all bit of difference to his body’s reaction to her. The plate slipped from his grasp and landed with a splash in the huge sink filled with sudsy water, sending water and bubbles up in a soapy geyser.
She let out a squeak of surprise and turned halfway around to face him. The tip of her nose and part of her cheek was covered in dish-soap bubbles.
Fighting to keep his cool, he reached over to brush away the bubbles at the same time she splashed a handful of water and bubbles from the sink right at him, soaking his shirt. Then she laughed. It wasn’t a snarky one like before. No, this was 100 percent joy and fun. It was that feeling of lacing up his skates for the first game of the season as a kid put into giggle form—and he wanted more.
There was only one thing to do at this point. He reached past her into the sink and returned fire, sending a wave of bubbles her way.
Her eyes widened in shock. “So that’s how you want it?”
“Just following your lead,” he shot back with a grin.
“Well, then, that’s,” she reached behind her and dipped her hand into the soapy water, “exactly what you’ll get.”
She didn’t fling the mountain of bubbles at him, though. She squished it against his shirt, rubbing it in with a whatcha-gonna-do-about-it dare in her eyes. The air crackled around them, thick with possibilities and promise as he slid his hand to the sink past her to reload. The move brought him in closer to her—hell, who was he lying to? He moved himself in closer to her. She let out a breath and bit down on her lip as she glided her wet hands over his now-soaking shirt.
His whole body clenched with anticipation, and in that moment, he forgot all four million reasons why being with Astrid ever again was a bad idea, and he kissed her.
He fought to stay in control, not to take this too far. But then she fisted the front of his shirt in her hand and rose up on her tiptoes, deepening the kiss, insisting on more, demanding everything.
Cupping her face with both hands, he gave her what she wanted. Teasing her with his tongue, he drew out one of those soft moans of pleasure she’d made last night. God. He needed to hear that again.
But what broke through the lusty haze was something completely different.
“Hold on, let me get Astrid,” Bear said from just outside the kitchen door, the man’s booming baritone setting off warning bells inside Cal’s head. “She’ll settle this. That woman remembers every stat and data point.”
Holding tight to what felt like the last strings of his self-restraint, Cal pulled it together enough to break the kiss before Bear walked into the kitchen.
Astrid’s gaze was fuzzy, her pink lipstick smeared, and all of the water from the front of his shirt had soaked her white tank top. The thin—now practically see-through—cotton material clung to her full tits and hard nipples poking against her sheer bra.
The sight was almost enough for him to forget the rest of the world existed. However, the sound of the double doors leading into the kitchen being pushed open kept him from falling over that edge.
Using all of the quickness he once utilized to stop pucks flying at him at eighty miles an hour, he yanked open the pantry door next to the sink with one hand and shoved Astrid through with the other, following her inside and jerking the door shut behind them.
“Astrid?” Bear called out. “Cal?”
Standing in the dimly lit space so cramped that there was no way not to have her back against his chest, he wrapped one arm around her waist to hold her still. “Shhh,” he whispered against her ear.
“No shit,” she hissed back, her voice barely audible even with them being practically glued together.
With the footsteps getting closer, shooting back a snarky response was out of the question, so instead he nipped at that sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder.
He should stop now. The whole point of being in the pantry was to save them from being discovered. And yet when she shivered against him in response, he gave in to that need and glided his hand upward, cupping her tit, brushing his thumb across her nipple.
